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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, also known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in western Europe located off the north-west coast of mainland Europe. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern portion of the Island of Ireland, in addition to various other islands. The United Kingdom is also the head of the British Empire which rules and administrates various overseas colonies, protectorates, dominions, territories, and mandates. It is considered one of the largest empires in history. Aftermath of the Great War After the armistice in 1918, Europe found itself facing no longer war, but revolution. The British populace was war-weary and its economy stagnating, and Britain had committed to intervening in the Russian Civil War, while the Irish Republicans had risen up against English rule, unrest in the British Raj was rising, and the political future of Europe seemed uncertain. As revolution spread to Germany, Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire, while Afghanistan declared war on Britain for Peshawar and its own independence, the British military was spread ever-thinner, and the war in Ireland seemed to have come to a stalemate. The Labour Party was gaining popularity, some in the British government worried that revolution would spread even to England. Despite pressuring from former Prime Minister H. H. Asquith and his Liberal opposition, as well as the Labour Party and the unions, Prime Minister David Lloyd George refused to negotiate a truce with the Irish Republican Army until they disarmed. Most of the administration believed that the IRA would continue waging their guerrilla campaign against the state indefinitely — and the public was beginning to believe so, too. With no end to the war in sight, the people were beginning to lose faith in the government they had just recently elected back into parliament. The nation was shaken when, in September of 1921, the IRA decided to "bring the war to England." The following bombing campaigns resulted in a militarisation of Britain — the police was supplemented by military forces in every major city in the Isles. The event that would end the Anglo-Irish War was unforeseen. In January of 1922, the Commander-in-Chief of British forces in Ireland, Sir Nevil Macready, executed a series of brutal operations in January of 1922, without approval from the government. Although this resulted in the deaths of several prominent IRA leaders, it also caused an unprecedented number of civilian casualties. While the Battle of Cork lasted only a few hours, the Battle of Dublin became a week-long bloodbath. Parliament was in disarray, the ruling coalition was falling apart, and the government had lost the people's confidence — and, more importantly, the King's. The King dissolved parliament, and a general election was called in February of 1922. With the Conservatives and Lloyd George's coalition Liberals having lost so much popularity, Asquith's official Liberals and the Labour Party each gained enough seats that the two were able to form a coalition, with Asquith returning as Prime Minister. Liberal-Labour Coalition (1922-23) The Liberal-Labour government under H. H. Asquith was a shaky coalition, with the Liberals viewing Labour as untrustworthy, revolutionary elements, and the Labourites viewing the Liberals as ineffectual and reactionary. Nevertheless, it held together in order to stabilise the situation in the aftermath of the tumultuous past few years, with British military interventions on the continent proving nearly fruitless, and the situation in Ireland ending with a massacre that led to the downfall of the government. Anti-militarism was a powerful force among the British people, and antagonism between the left and the right was at an all-time high. David Lloyd George received much of the blame for the Irish disaster, and the Conservative Party was viewed by many as hawkish, to the detriment of ordinary British men and women. On the other hand, the Liberal Party was divided and weak, and the trend appeared to be that their base was gradually going over to Labour. Meanwhile, many stirred up fears about Labour's supposedly radical and revolutionary character. All three parties, therefore, had damning flaws. The Conservatives began putting out anti-socialist propaganda, attempting to stir up fears of revolution spreading to Britain; much of the Liberal propaganda apparatus soon joined them in this campaign, while advocating for gradual social reform. Labour, angered by the Liberals' betrayal, withdrew their support from Asquith's government in September 1923, leading to new elections the following month. First Baldwin Ministry (1923-28) The October 1923 elections produced a Conservative majority under Stanley Baldwin. Lloyd George's Liberals being seen as unnecessary, they were not included in the government. Baldwin pursued protectionist policies in order to protect the British economy from the aftermath of the German Revolution, as well as to stimulate British industry after the disastrous Great War. This led to the reunion of the Liberal factions in the name of free trade, bolstering it to the position of second largest party in parliament. The Labour Party, meanwhile, began purging its ranks of Marxists and revolutionaries, and launched propaganda campaigns to dissociate itself with the more radical socialists on the continent. Regardless, the Labour Party continued to be regarded by more moderate voters with mistrust, and more left-wing voters began to wonder whether the Independent Labour Party—to which many of Labour's outcasts had fled—was a better alternative. The government took a harsh stance on strikes and left-wing activism, leading to growing unrest among the working class that culminated in the 1926 general strike. Although the strike ultimately failed in most of its immediate objectives, the denouncement of the strike by Labour's leadership is often considered by commentators to have been the final blow to its support base. Meanwhile, the government's swift and forceful reaction to the strike—considered by many to have been unwarranted and overly harsh—led many working-class and sympathetic voters to seek other political alternatives. Third Lloyd George Ministry (1928-1932) The elections of September 1928 resulted in the downfall of the Conservative Party and a hung parliament. While Baldwin's government had brought stability to a tumultuous political landscape and stabilised the British economy, the country was still reeling from the costs incurred during the Great War and the ensuing revolutions. That many of the country's troubles remained unresolved was blamed on the Conservatives, leading some right-wing voters to consider more obscure and hardline options, and more moderate voters to consider the Liberal Party. With the general strike still fresh in voters' minds, the left was bolstered among the working class, but Labour's denunciation of the strike had damned them, leading to a large segment of their former supporters turning to the Independent Labour Party. As a result, the Liberal Party gained the most seats in parliament, and David Lloyd George returned as Prime Minister, having replaced Asquith as party leader after the latter's death in February of that year. Their government received tacit approval from the Labour Party, hoping to push the Liberal government to adopt progressive reforms to maintain their support. The government was largely ineffectual during this period, and only one year after forming a government, Lloyd George oversaw the crash of the London Stock Exchange, which would lead to an economic recession that had grave effects on the economy of the entire British Empire, as well as many countries for which Britain was a major trading partner or benefactor. Crash of the London Stock Exchange (1929) On 20 September, 1929, the London Stock Exchange crashed in response to the jailing of top investor Clarence Hatry and many of his associates, on charges of fraud and forgery. The British economy's slow recovery from the Great War and its aftermath immediately halted. Within months, the effects were felt throughout the dominions and the colonies, the former of which used their limited autonomy in the realm of foreign trade to seek new trading partners. Several other countries, for which Britain was a major importer or benefactor, also saw declines in economic output, including Argentina, Denmark, Bulgaria, and Romania. There was a lesser impact on the rest of Europe and on Japan, while the United States remained practically untouched. Unemployment has risen dramatically in certain regions, especially northern England and Scotland, and the left and radical right have both gained traction as a result of what is seen by many as a crisis of (liberal) capitalism. By 1932, British economic output remains below 1928 levels. Category:Countries Category:Empires Category:Capitalist States Category:Monarchies Category:Members of the Commonwealth Category:Multi-national States